The whole of South Africa can be turned into one large construction site in order to build sustainable human settlements in various localities.
This is the view of Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale who told delegates attending the DBSA/Human Settlements conference in Midrand that the department is acquiring 6250 hectares of well-located state land to provide 600 000 new loans in the affordable housing market using the state-supported “gap fund”.
“In addition 500 000 informal settlement dwellings are being upgraded,” he said. Sexwale points out that the greatest challenge facing the country is economic growth, which needs to keep pace with the population growth.
“We need high gross domestic product growth rates in order to address mass poverty and the unacceptably high rate of unemployment,” he said. “We set a target of a growth rate of not less than 6% but right now it’s around 3,8% and that means we have a growth rate deficit,” he said.
Referring to statistics compiled by the International Monetary Fund, Sexwale said that the country needed a growth rate of 7%. “This growth challenge remains at the heart of whatever we may do in human settlements,” he said.
“There are currently 2 700 informal settlements – or slums if we give them their correct name. They are human parking lots, crammed with people hoping and praying to make it into better housing in the cities,” he said.
He went on to say that the reality is that South Africa can only clear the housing backlog at the rate of about 10% a year and this means that it will take decades to break the backlog.
He says the Department of Human Settlements has a shopping list of ideas regarding sustainability, urbanisation and spatial development but emphasised that private sector participation was essential These ideas include:
- Access, use and develop suitable land;
- The potential pitfalls of densification;
- What governance measures need to be in place for integrated, sustainable human settlements;
- Creating integrated communities that will work towards de-racialising society;
- Ways to integrate transport solutions when building new cities and towns;
- What the State’s role is in new human settlement developments. Should the government continue to give away houses or is there a better way of matching the need with the resources?
He said that the reality is that the future of human settlements depended on the people and the solutions to the many challenges being faced by his department had to be practical because this will help to shape the future of the cities and towns of South Africa.
“In crafting our vision for Human Settlements 2030, we must plan for the needs of the future adults. It is about their own homes, apartments, bachelor flats and so on, because a child born today will be 20 years old in 2030.
“These projects will contribute to economic growth and job creation and Human Settlements 2030 is a campaign for the young people and for their own future,” he added.
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